Latest / The Skol Hop / Super Bowl Recap followed by Austin and Evan putting on their GM hats and making roster moves and contract decisions for the 2024 offseason

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Super Bowl Recap followed by Austin and Evan putting on their GM hats and making roster moves and contract decisions for the 2024 offseason · The Skol Hop

0:30
All right, Hey, Vikings fans, welcome into another episode of the School
0:33
Hat. I'm Evan and I'm Awesome. We'res a couple of dudes from Iowa.
0:36
We like drinking beer, talking about the Vikings. We do. We
0:40
really do like doing both of those things. They are two of my favorite
0:43
things. Yeah. Yeah, my wife would roll her eyes at me agreeing
0:48
to that sentence, but darn it. Yeah, and you know what,
0:50
sometimes drinking beer is more fun than talking about the Vikings. Sometimes drinking beer
0:56
allows us to talk about the Vikings. Yeah, everything you've said is true.
1:00
Yep, so you brought the beer I did today, I tell us
1:03
about it. So last week we ultimately chose the cloud tripping from oh man,
1:11
where was it from? Spot? Darn it? Look man, I
1:17
got the list here, Great Revivalist. Yep, sorry GRB. So yeah,
1:23
last week we ended up choosing the cloud tripping hazy, I p a
1:26
from a Great Revivalist. But we were going back and forth between that and
1:30
what we ultimately are drinking tonight, which is I grabbed the can here from
1:38
Contrary Brewing, which I'm not I'm not confident that I'm saying that right.
1:42
Contrary Contrary contrary. Yeah, but they are out of Muscatine, Iowa.
1:48
They say they're a veteran owned and operated, which is pretty sweet. We
1:51
are drinking their pig headed American Brown and we already did our pre recorded TikTok
2:00
our first taste TikTok review, and uh, I forget what you what do
2:06
you think of this? I liked it. I think we both kind of
2:08
mentioned how it has a little bit more of a complex flavor to it.
2:14
Yeah. I mean you take the first sip and it's enjoyable, but then
2:20
it kind of has a second a second round, almost like an aftertaste.
2:24
Yeah, and it's it's very nice. It's it's got a lot of the
2:30
maltiness of a brown that I like. And it's just it's solid, I
2:36
mean, good stuff. Yeah, I agree with everything you just said.
2:40
It's a it's a good beer. I'm coming around to the brown ales.
2:46
Not that I was against them before, it just wasn't my go to,
2:49
But now I easily pick up an American Brown or anything like that. So
2:53
this one's hitting a spot I'd like to go. I'd like to go there
2:57
and have like a fresh one and right off the tap. Yeah. So
3:01
if they have a tap room. I'm assuming they do. Yeah, well
3:05
they're not that far away, only about a forty five minute drive, so
3:07
we should we should make that happen. We will, and then you guys
3:12
can teach us how to properly say the name of your brewery. Contrary slash
3:16
contrary Mary Mary quite anyways, I like the beer. We'll give it a
3:24
full full review after we've finished, you know, towards the end of the
3:29
episode. But so far it's hitting the spot. Yeah, good choice,
3:32
choice, and thanks for bringing it. Of course. Well, there was
3:36
a game that happened yesterday, was there. Yeah, kind of a big
3:39
one. What I think A lot of people watched it, Like, I
3:44
don't I don't know. The Vikings have never played in a game this late
3:46
in the year. Does the season go on that long? I mean some
3:51
people may, oh the Pro Bowl is are you talking about? Some people
3:53
may have confused it for the Usher Concert? What they played a football game
3:58
at the Usher Concert? I don't know, but yeah, I don't know.
4:02
I've always thought that the the halftime music was always the most boring part
4:08
of any football game at any level. I'm a musician, so we don't
4:13
share that opinion. I would beg to differ. Yeah, that's okay,
4:15
but I enjoyed it. That's fine. They gotta let When else would the
4:18
band kids play their music in front of people. I just alienated the other
4:26
ten percent of our audience. I resemble that remark. Some band kids out
4:30
there, don't listen to them. You resemble. Yeah, I was a
4:32
band kid all four years we went to high school together. I know.
4:35
It's just I feel like the word resemble is not the correct word. We
4:40
never got to shouldn't be no resemble. Resemble that's actually looked like it right,
4:46
because I am we Okay, I'm a band kid. Okay, I
4:51
resemble. That's a it's actually a quote from space jam. Yeah, I
4:56
just resemble that remark. I can't get over because I think that's the wrong
5:00
word. You're the English teacher here. Resemble means to look like right,
5:05
Yeah, but like I feel like I'm way outside of my What are we
5:10
arguing about here? You're wrong? Whatever you resemble somebody that's wrong regardless.
5:17
Before we get too ear too far derailed, anyways, school we can we
5:26
can agree on that word school. School That means cheers or does it?
5:30
It does? I don't know, I've never looked it up. To me,
5:33
it means Cheers school school. Sorry, I totally derailed the segment here,
5:42
that's all right, But we were talking about this crazy game that they
5:46
apparently play this late in the season. Maybe one day we'll see our team
5:50
playing that game. I've seen a few people say on Twitter and other places
5:57
that they've surrendered to the fact that it probably won't happen in their lifetime.
6:01
And I'm hoping those people are much older than us, Yeah, because that
6:04
would give us some hope that the Vikings could eventually make it there. Yeah,
6:10
it would feel pretty tough if we were like seventy year old Vikings fans
6:13
right now, Like, yeah, yeah, I don't even want to think
6:17
about the idea that we could go our whole lives and not see even like
6:24
an appearance in the super Bowl. Because you think, like Niners fans in
6:29
the last what fourteen ish years, they've seen their team in the Super Bowl
6:34
three times and they've lost all three times, and like they're not any more
6:42
successful super Bowl wise than the Vikings are. It's just, yeah, that's
6:46
that's a little deflating to think about. As a franchise. They have some
6:49
wins. So they have like four Super Bowl Oh yeah, they were dominant
6:53
in like the eighties and nineties. Yeah, but I mean lately it's just
6:58
all Chiefs all the time. What three wins in five years? It's crazy?
7:04
Hu is what that is? It's crazy? Yeah, I mean there
7:08
are a whole Lions stretches of five years seasons that they don't have three regular
7:13
season wins. So that's true. That is true. Yeah, Well I
7:17
didn't. I'm gonna just be honest. I didn't watch every waking minute of
7:23
that game. You weren't awake every minute I was. And I fell asleep,
7:26
and I woke up to find out that I had gone into overtime,
7:30
and then also found out that apparently the Niners didn't know the new rules in
7:36
the playoffs. I didn't. I didn't. I had heard it, and
7:40
I think when they announced it, what almost a year ago. Sure I
7:44
knew it, but like going in, when the Niners were, you know,
7:47
driving down the field on their first overtime drive, they're only overtime drive,
7:53
I was pretty sure, like, holy cow, they're in the red
7:56
zone, they're twenty yards away from winning, and they ultimately didn't score touchdown,
8:03
right, but then yeah, I mean, they kicked the field goal,
8:07
and the Chiefs seem to be, for me, content to like do
8:15
everything they can to score touchdown, which that made sense for the rules that
8:18
I thought they were, because you know, you score touchdown, you win.
8:22
But yeah, I don't know. I would have been super confused if
8:24
the Niners had scored a touchdown and the game didn't end like I admittedly I
8:30
didn't know the rules either, but the players and coaches should have known the
8:33
rules right well. And everything that I've read today makes it seem like the
8:39
Chiefs reviewed those rules regularly throughout the regular season and into the postseason, and
8:46
then like twice this last week they had dedicated meetings to Okay, if the
8:52
game goes in overtime, these are the rules, and this is the strategy
8:56
we're going to take. And it just sounds like the nine weren't prepared at
9:01
all. Do you know, are they the same rules for all of the
9:03
playoffs as well? That's my understanding is that it applies to everything postseason because
9:09
it totally changes your strategy in what you do at the coin toss, to
9:15
say, in the overtime game overtime of the Super Bowl if you win the
9:18
coin toss, you absolutely want to defer, like you want the other team
9:22
to start on offense. And I'm pretty sure the Niners won the coin toss
9:26
and they chose to receive the ball, right, which right there tells you
9:31
they don't know the rules, because if the other team receives the ball and
9:35
they go down and score, you still have a chance to score. And
9:39
I think to your point, the Chiefs have said, like, if that
9:43
had happened, if the Niners got the ball first, went down and scored,
9:46
the Chiefs would have tried to score, and if they did, they
9:48
would have gone for two rather than give the Niners another chance at being on
9:52
offense. Right. Yeah, Well, regardless of what happened, that was
9:58
the outcome. Yeah, And the Chiefs have definitely cemented themselves as a dynasty.
10:05
Oh yeah, I mean three win three super Bowl wins in five seasons,
10:09
four Super Bowl appearances in five seasons. And Patrick Mahlmes isn't even thirty
10:15
yet. Yeah, what was he drafted as like a twenty one year old?
10:18
He must have been, because he's been there for what twenty seventeen.
10:22
I think he was drafted and he essentially didn't play at all his rookie year.
10:28
Yeah, he's been dominant ever since he started playing. Yep. And
10:31
I mean Andy Reid's a heck of a coach, But like, you have
10:35
to have the coach and the quarterback and then you know, get lucky with
10:39
a few other pieces in between there too. So I don't know. I
10:43
mean it's tough to for me, it's tough to see one team just dominate
10:48
for a year in and year out, just because I'm jealous and I'm petty
10:52
and I want my team to have one chance, you know. Well,
10:54
I mean, we got so sick and tired of the Patriots in the two
10:58
thousands and even into the twenty tents, like, come on, can these
11:03
guys just not be good for once? Yeah, give somebody else a chance?
11:07
Like can it just every year? And they were. I looked it
11:11
up. Tom Brady has at least a five hundred or better record against every
11:20
team. That's crazy period. Well, in one stat that I always thought
11:24
was really cool about Tom Brady is that he never took a snap at all
11:31
in his career when his team was out of playoff contention. I think,
11:37
yeah, I think you told me that. Yeah, I'm I think I've
11:39
said that on this podcast. Wild yeah, like because there was the one
11:43
year when he tours ACL and he was out for all but you know,
11:48
the first few plays of the first game. But yeah, every time he
11:54
was playing, every single snap he took, his team was at least in
11:58
playoff contention, which is nuts, Like it's crazy. Just imagine that success.
12:03
Like, just to know another cool stat more on Pat Mahomes and Super
12:09
Bowl specifically Pat Mahomes and I guess the Chiefs since you know, twenty twenty,
12:16
he has faced a ten or more point deficit in every Super Bowl he
12:20
has played, and they have never had a lead at half. So Pat
12:28
Mahomes has never had a Super Bowl lead at halftime. So he's the king
12:33
of the second half comeback. Yeah, And I mean that was the case
12:37
yesterday too, Like that they definitely faced a ten point deficit and the Niners
12:43
were up at half, and for a while to me, it looked like
12:46
the Niners, We're gonna figure it out and usurp the Chiefs. At least
12:52
this year that did not happen. The curse of Kirk Cousins remains, it
12:56
does, well, the curse kind of changed up a little bit it used
12:58
to be no team has ever lost to Kirk, and they laid it to
13:03
the super Bowl. But it still stands that no one has won the super
13:07
Bowl after losing a game to Kirk Cousins in the just crazy season. So
13:11
yeah, there's our moral victory right there. As Vikings fan, yay for
13:18
a guy that is probably not going to be a Viking anymore. We've probably
13:20
seen his last down as a Viking. That seems to be the riding on
13:24
the wall right now. And yeah, I mean we talked about it a
13:31
few weeks ago with Dustin Baker. It all comes down to that decision.
13:37
The Vikings have to start there. He is the biggest chess piece on the
13:43
board and he's either there or he's not, and his presence will dictate whatever
13:50
else happens with these twenty five other free agents. Yep, and I mean,
13:56
just looking at him and the rest of the lead to him being Kirk.
14:01
Kirk is without a doubt the best available quarterback to anyone at this moment
14:11
outside of some crazy blockbuster trade. But like, I don't know, who
14:16
could you trade for that is better than Kirk. Like you could argue Justin
14:20
Herbert, you could probably throw the farm at I almost said San Diego at
14:26
La and maybe get him from the Chargers. But even then you're spending more
14:33
in capital than you would ever spend to just hand Kirk a contract. I'd
14:37
be like Harbaugh wants to Herbert there. Yeah, and that's just like I
14:41
don't know who else, who else you could even I mean, Mahomes is
14:45
never going to be available. You're not going to get him from from Kansas
14:48
City. Yeah, I mean Lamar Jackson he's, you know, never going
14:54
to be available. Jalen Hurts, He's never going to be available. You
14:56
know, like these these big name guys, you're not just gonna be able
15:01
to get them because the price would be something like your next forty first round
15:05
picks. You know. So Kirk is definitely the best available quarterback to any
15:11
team right now, which means he's going to get his requisite contract. Like
15:18
the quote unquote hometown discount just feels like it gets to be a higher number
15:24
every time you think about it, right, well, and it doesn't help
15:28
anything that what's his name from New York has kind of set the floor for
15:33
the market. Yeah, Daniel Daniel Jones there it is. Yeah, excuse
15:39
me, because didn't he sign a like a forty million a year something like
15:43
that, forty forty five. Yeah, And I mean there's no question that
15:46
Kirk is a better quarterback and has been more successful for longer than Daniel Jones.
15:54
So you know, if that's the floor, then the only way to
16:00
go up is or the only place to go is up. And that's where
16:03
you got to go with Kirk. Yeah, unless he's determined to stay in
16:07
Minnesota and make it work, which I could see that, Like, he's
16:11
definitely got some longevity in Minnesota, has some pride. You know. He
16:17
even mentioned in one interview like if we want somewhere else, I'd have to
16:19
find another kindergarten class that we liked for our kids, you know, Like,
16:25
but he did mention like there's good kindergarten classes everywhere, I guess.
16:27
But he's been he's been very careful with his words since the season ended,
16:33
and he Yeah, he's done a good job of I'm sure he knows a
16:40
lot more than he's willing to let on. Oh yeah, he's done a
16:44
very good job of keeping that under wraps. But we'll see what happens.
16:49
It'll be an interesting a few months here, early in the off season.
16:56
Yeah, I don't know. I feel like my guys is that I want
17:00
them to move on and draft a guy, and even if that means we've
17:03
got a poor couple of seasons ahead and then hopefully the guy flourishes and the
17:11
team really clicks and then you got a couple more great seasons after that.
17:15
But you never know. Who knows well, I had the idea. I
17:19
pitched this to you earlier today. We were texting that we should mess around
17:23
with over the Cap. We sit here a lot and we just talk like
17:29
we're the GM. But we found a nifty little tool to bring us one
17:37
step closer to sitting in Quacy's chair. Yeah, which again we would both
17:42
be terrible at. Oh yeah, for sure. But it's just fun to,
17:47
like, hypothetically speaking, what would happen if this were the case?
17:51
What would happen if we let Kirk walk in free agency and all this?
17:57
So let's mess around with that and we're gonna maybe hopefully try to get a
18:04
little screen capture here, and so if you're watching us, you'll be able
18:10
to see Austin clicking around. This is over thecap dot com. If you're
18:15
not familiar with over thecap dot Com. I would recommend it just as a
18:21
football fan in general. There's a ton of different resources and things that you
18:25
can look at. We were just talking about Daniel Jones kind of resetting the
18:30
quarterback market so you can like sort by position and see what all their contracts
18:34
are worth. So all the quarterbacks in the league, all the running backs,
18:38
whatever. But we're looking at the vikings and we're looking at specifically twenty
18:45
twenty four because this is this offseason leading into the twenty twenty four season,
18:52
I think is the make or break like they have to they have to get
18:56
it figured out. Yeah, this is definitely a altering, a franchise,
19:02
directional altering year for the next decade or so. Yep. So we're just
19:07
gonna play around with it and see what we can't see what we can't come
19:12
up with. All right, So first move, as the skull hop GM
19:18
candidacy, here, what are we doing? Are we signing Kirk Cousins?
19:22
So how much cap space do we have? It should stay up there at
19:26
the top, all right, twenty four. It looks like for twenty twenty
19:27
four they're saying a total cap space of twenty four million, six hundred thousand
19:33
dollars. Yeah. Well, like I've been saying, I think we've got
19:36
to start with Kirk. So well, I back up. You know what
19:41
we need to do first? What do we need to do? We need
19:45
to get rid of Marcus Davenportant. Oh man, all right, let's find
19:47
this guy. Cut the guy, get rid of him. I feel like
19:49
it doesn't his contract expire, like I don't know, I feel like it
19:56
expires and he shouldn't be on here. But we'll see. I'm not seeing
20:03
him on the list of He's not too far down. I'm looking at it
20:06
too. You are maybe I missed him. I don't know, six or
20:08
seven dollars. Oh, I see him? Okay, So all right,
20:15
and I would do whatever it takes to save money, so I would cut
20:18
him after June first. All right, post June first? Cut? Did
20:22
that update? No? Not yet? Do I need to do you?
20:26
Click submit? Where is this submit? Oh? It's right next to gray
20:32
button? Got it? Okay, let's submit that guy? All right?
20:37
Now we have twenty nine million, seven hundred thousand dollars better? All right
20:42
now, I think we we take care of Kirk here. What are we
20:47
doing signing him long term? Long term? I think a long term is
20:52
two to three years for Kirk with the Vikings. He may sign longer somewhere
20:56
else. But I mean, if the market is set at forty let's say
21:03
forty. Oh man, all right, how do I update this? Click
21:10
on the same thing that you did, and then extend or renegotiate. Will
21:14
extend it and then click the gray button and then I think you gotta type
21:18
it there we go. Okay, and that I think starts you with four
21:23
seasons and then you can click that red x on the left to delete.
21:26
So I think two seasons for me is the sweet spot. I agree Kirk
21:32
with the Vikings at what thirty six years old? Right? Yeah? Off
21:36
of a devastating injury. Yeah, you don't know what you're getting. Another
21:40
reason why I think maybe letting them walk. But let's see what this looks
21:45
like. So you said, what, what should we say? Thirty five
21:48
a year? That'd be two years, seventy million dollars. That would be
21:53
a big discount, a big hometown discount considering what Daniel Jones is getting in
22:00
New York. Yeah. And I may not be doing this right because I
22:03
think you're doing it perfectly, Okay, And I'm not. I didn't get
22:10
into like all the like signing bonus and stuff like that. Yep, all
22:15
right, well that takes us down to thirteen million dollars of twenty twenty four
22:19
cap space. Next thing, I mean for me, the next thing you
22:25
have to do is justin Jefferson and he needs you're probably looking at four years
22:32
one hundred and thirty ish million dollars. Well, because he's gonna get around
22:37
twenty five thirty million dollars a year. Yeah, well, just realistically extended
22:51
negotiate. Okay. He said that he wants Kirk throwing the football to him,
22:57
so I'd say do it. All right, So we're gonna do four
23:03
years. And I don't know how to manipulate this, like to make the
23:08
numbers look even halfway accurate. You can like completely delete those and like put
23:17
in new numbers. Yeah, but it's got the pro rated bonus and the
23:21
non pro rated bonus, and let's just go thirty messing around with their annual
23:27
salary, the base salary. Yeah, all right, we're just gonna plug
23:34
in thirty million for all of these years, thirty million a year for four
23:38
years. That's what one hundred and twenty million. Yeah, that sounds for
23:45
me a non expert, that sounds about right. So while you're doing that,
23:52
I can just look at positions really quick and oh yeah, you where
23:55
the market that? So look at what's Davante Adams getting one for over in
24:00
total value? Devanta Adams is locked up in Vegas until twenty twenty seven,
24:10
so five years, five more years or yeah, four more years, five
24:15
including this year, and then Tyreek won twenty until twenty twenty seven. Yeah.
24:23
But what's interesting about Davante is only twenty two million is fully guaranteed.
24:32
Interesting. Yeah, he probably got a big bonus right up front, and
24:37
that was what two ish years ago that he's been with the Raiders, So
24:41
it's kind of interesting. But what's the average per year for those guys?
24:44
Those two guys Davante twenty eight and Tyreek thirty? Yep, So I think
24:49
thirty and JJ, you could argue, is better than both of them.
24:56
Tyreek is the more heavy argument on who's better, but it's not. It's
25:03
not a foregone conclusion that JJ or Tyreek is better than the other one.
25:07
That's a good argument, I think. So to say that JJ could be
25:10
looking at thirty a year to me, sounds reasonable, if not more than
25:15
that. So so far over the cap are we doing? Given JJ a
25:19
four year contract at thirty a year leaves the Vikings with two point seven million
25:23
dollars of cap space for twenty twenty four. That does not look at rookies.
25:30
That doesn't look at daneil Hunter, Danielle or Dalton Reisner, or we're
25:36
gonna need some more anybody else. I mean, you're I'd like to re
25:40
sign Jordan Hicks. Yeah, there's a couple of free agents on that list
25:45
that I think would be worth keeping around. Well, shoot, i mean
25:48
losing free agents right now. You're looking at Jordan Hicks. You're looking at
25:52
Dalton Reisner, DJ Wanham, who's injured but he's still only twenty seven and
25:57
could come back lot enormous, Anthony Barr who maybe done. kJ Osborne,
26:03
who I'm fine, you can replace him with anybody, sorry, kJ David
26:07
Questenberry, who was a solid tackle backup, but he's thirty four, he's
26:15
he's probably not coming back. Just kind of going down the list those I
26:19
think I've said all the names. Maybe Brandon Powell, who would be a
26:23
very cheap resign. You're talking maybe veteran minimum. Yeah, I mean,
26:33
that's that's about it. Maybe Nick Muse is a tight end or resign,
26:37
but he'd be again veteran minimum. Cam Akers maybe, but devastating injury two
26:41
achilles on both legs as a running back, I'd say he's done. But
26:48
I think that's not without even naming Daniel Hunter. So just looking at these
26:55
moves that we've made so far, the Kirk, the JJ, and then
27:00
you still have Daniel Hunter, are there any other players on the active roster
27:07
that aren't free agents that you could cut? So I think one kind of
27:11
wild card at this moment is what is Harrison Smith gonna do? And then
27:18
not even what he's gonna do, what are the Vikings going to do with
27:22
him? Agreed? I mean, he's got a base salary in twenty four
27:29
of fourteen million dollars, so a cap number of nineteen million dollars. That's
27:36
kind of tempting. However, Harrison Smith is still it's not like he's been
27:40
playing terrible the last few years. Like he's still Harrison Smith. So that's
27:44
that's one way one way you could go. I've heard Harrison Phillips come up
27:49
as a name that you could let go and save some cap number. But
27:52
Darna, he's a good player and he's not a bank breaking player, and
27:59
I liked him in the middle. I think we need to find someone else
28:03
to be the Robin to his batman. Yeah, I mean, we just
28:11
didn't have anybody fill in that those holes up front, right, Yeah,
28:15
And I think that's one of the biggest needs that they've identified in the draft,
28:19
is that interior defensive line position. Yep. I think Dean Lowry is
28:23
a potential cut candidate. Yes, a post June cut would save you.
28:30
Oh shoot, that goes up to six million dollars and six and a half
28:33
million dollars a cab space if you get rid of Dean Lowry yep, a
28:37
guy that barely played, albeit he was injured. But I mean that that
28:44
seems like a somewhat no brainer cap space move. As much as it pains
28:51
me to say, if the Vikings aren't going to utilize the full back position,
28:56
then C. J. Ham could probably go, Yeah, let's just
29:00
even see what cutting him it's not gonna do a lot. I mean,
29:04
he's got a three point two million cap. It'd give you an extra two
29:11
and a half ish million dollars but I think I'm gonna undo that one.
29:15
I think there's some guys at the bottom of that list that don't get paid
29:18
a lot. But if you can, if you can cut a bunch of
29:22
those younger players that didn't play at all, and you can cut ten of
29:27
them, you open up. I mean, yeah, but you also have
29:32
to field a team too, right, I get that. I think I
29:36
think the obvious ones we've already talked about Marcus Davenport immediately obvious, and then
29:42
Dean Lowry another immediately obvious. Cut. About Alexander Madison, you bring him
29:51
back, I don't know he's under contract. He is, but I don't
29:53
know how much you'd get. Let's just see what it is. We'll cut
29:56
him. You can trade him to If you couldn't trade Dalvin Cook a year
30:02
ago, you can't trade alex Madison. True, this only gives me the
30:07
cut pre June first option, and that could be part of his contract too,
30:12
I don't know. So that gives you another goes from six and a
30:15
half or six point six million to seven point two million in casspace, So
30:19
what another half a million dollars a little bit more than that? By cutting
30:23
alex Madison I mean, I mean the going rate for a rookie is like,
30:27
what nine hundred thousand, Well, yeah, yeah, I mean the
30:33
dis Madison could be a cut candidate. There are different tiers for rookies right
30:38
well, depending on where they're drafted, and especially if they're undrafted. Yeah,
30:42
but I mean, if let's say you pick up one of the like
30:45
Blake Korum, one of those good Michigan backs later in the draft, I
30:52
mean, cheaper and possibly more effective, potentially in Alexander Madison. So yeah,
30:59
a rookie is an option, although I don't I should know, but
31:02
I don't know where they're sitting draft capital wise. They've got the eleventh pick
31:06
in the first round, but there's one round they don't have a pick.
31:10
Is it the third round because I think the third, fourth or fifth.
31:12
I think they gave up the third rounder in the TJ. Hockinson trade.
31:18
That sounds right, but either way it's yeah, it's that third fourth ish
31:22
pick because they also gave up twenty three's second rounder for TJ. Hockinson.
31:32
But yeah, then that's all all of this is with the the possibility of
31:41
signing Kirk for another two years seventy million dollars which may be too cheap,
31:47
like he may not somebody's gonna give him that at least that So just for
31:51
fun, let's undo that move. Let Kirk go. Yeah, let's let
31:56
Kirk walk and keep the moves that we've done so, cutting Dean Lowry,
32:00
cutting Marcus Davenport, which the Davenport move kind of confuses me a little bit
32:07
because I thought he only signed a one year contract, so I could have
32:12
been a one year with dead money and yeah, but that dead money would
32:15
still be dead money regardless either way. I know that I'm not super smart
32:20
in this, and let's just assume this website knows more than I do.
32:24
But yeah, let's just get rid. Let's do undue on Kirk. Well,
32:30
that's I don't think we have to do anything because he's gonna his contract
32:37
will expire anyways. Yeah, and he'll have some dead money in future years.
32:44
Yeah, which that's a free agent. Yeah, that's the that's the
32:49
case, no matter what. So not extending him bumps us all the way
32:52
up to twenty three point three million dollars in cap space, which in that
32:57
scenario you would be able to resigned Danielle Hunter and Harrison Smith probably and yeah,
33:07
well, Harrison Smith, he's still under contract. True, we should
33:10
retire, he could retire walk away, you could negotiate, which last year
33:15
he already renegotiated for less money. But I think what's Daniel Hunter. He's
33:22
thirty, He's probably looking at at least a three year contract and I think
33:28
conservatively, like lowballing, it would be twenty million dollars a year. Yeah,
33:34
well he's getting seventeen right now. Yeah, So the market is kind
33:39
of set with Nick Bosa at thirty four yep. And is not that he's
33:45
not as good as Nick Bosa, I would say, but no, but
33:46
he's also coming off arguably one of his best statistical years. So just signing
33:53
him for another three years and average of twenty million dollars a year after that
33:58
leaves you with ten point eight million dollars in cap space. And I know
34:02
you still have to pay your rookies. And if the rumors are true that
34:06
the Vikings could be looking to go as high as number three trading with the
34:09
Patriots, that's an expensive rookie cheaper than it was, you know, fifteen
34:15
years ago, because there's the rookie salary cap, but that's still an expensive
34:20
rookie. You know who's been a really expensive rookie Lewis Scene. Is he
34:28
even even makes sense to cut him yet? I don't know. But he's
34:35
another one that's kind of a like Marcus Davenport type of like, man,
34:42
what a waste of money? Well, cutting Lewis Scene actually is expensive.
34:47
You lose almost two million dollars. Interesting in cap space. This is why
34:53
this does not make sense to me. That was a yeah, because we
34:59
went from like ten point eight to eight point eight. So yeah, that
35:02
was a two million dollar loss of money. Well, I guess why I
35:07
keep him around. Yeah, But if you don't keep Kirk and you do
35:13
the moves we've already said, you know, extend JJ, extend d'aneil,
35:16
get rid of Dave important Lowry, maybe that means you can do something like
35:22
sign a Dalton Reisner. I don't know. I think I clicked the wrong
35:27
name here. And the number I've heard for Reisner is something like three years
35:37
twenty five ish million dollars total. So what would that be eight Let's just
35:44
say eight million dollars a year for Dalton. See the left side or the
35:52
right side. Dalton is on the right side under that list, of free
35:58
agents. No, I mean, like on oh, he plays left guard.
36:01
Okay, so he's currently getting two a year. Yeah, but he
36:08
has outplayed that. Oh, yeah for sure, and somebody will pay for
36:13
that. So I just plugged him in at eight million dollars a year for
36:16
three years, and that took us from ten point eight million dollars to three
36:22
point six. We'll shoot. Ingram's only getting well Ingram. He's also still
36:29
on his rookie track. Yeah, that makes sense. So I think this,
36:34
this experiment right here, just numbers wise is telling telling us. And
36:39
granted we I mean, we're essentially morons when it comes to this, like
36:45
we don't know anything. We're playing with this calculator and trusting that it's right.
36:49
It's still telling me financially, it doesn't make sense to keep Kirk if
36:53
you also want to keep some of the other guys. I think the biggest
36:59
one is you can't have Kirk and Daniel Hunter. That's the quickest statement that
37:05
I'm seeing. Yeah, for sure, And you probably can't even justify guys
37:10
like Dalton Reisner, Jordan Hicks. Oh. I feel like if they announce
37:15
at all, like, oh, Kirk re signs with the Vikings immediately I've
37:19
forgotten Dalton Reisner's name, like he they can't sign him, like yeah,
37:22
and Jordan Hicks, like he's I mean, he's thirty two. Somebody will
37:28
sign him, but the Vikings won't have the money to the luxury money to
37:34
sign guys like that. That. Well, then you start to open up
37:37
the conversation too, about how what I thought you said, Tua, it's
37:45
up there. You open up the conversation about like mortgaging the future on the
37:52
now and just pushing all of that money down to twenty five and twenty six
37:59
and even twenty seven and twenty eight, which if you're confident, like hey,
38:04
super Bowl and you think, like, man, I don't know how
38:07
they wouldn't win the super Bowl if they do sign Kirk, Like, if
38:10
that's their thought, then shoot, do whatever you have to to sign whoever
38:15
you need to win the Super Bowl. If you're like on the last year
38:19
of a dynasty and you need to re up Pat Mahomes for one more year,
38:27
then you do whatever you have to do to keep that dynasty going,
38:30
right, But like, that's to me, that's not the case. The
38:34
Vikings are not in that situation. They have a better chance of winning the
38:37
Super Bowl in twenty twenty four with Kirk Cousins. I think, but then
38:44
you're totally selling out and ruining the next five ish years of your franchise by
38:52
throwing it all in for one year that's not a guarantee, and potentially making
38:59
like Justin Jefferson really unhappy at the end of his contract. Although Dustin Baker
39:05
said, I think on his first appearance with us that like JJ, like
39:12
as long as he he has an idea of who's throwing in the ball,
39:15
Like, yes, JJ has come out and basically said like I want Kirk
39:19
back, which is admirable. That's a good teammate, shows the kind of
39:22
a teammate that Kirk is. But I feel like you can appease JJ,
39:27
like if you say, like, yeah, it's not gonna be Kirk,
39:30
but it is going to be this incoming guy that you've heard his name,
39:34
you know, not Caleb Williams probably, But what who did who did Dustin
39:39
say you wanted Drake May? Drake May? Yeah, Like if it's somebody
39:43
that you can be like, yeah, this is who he got. We're
39:45
not we're not trying to sign you know, Tyrod Taylor and run it with
39:51
him without a future consistent I hope, I hope we don't sign Sam Darnold.
39:59
Yeah, I mean, out loud, Holy cow, that would be
40:00
terrible. Yeah, that would feel like a cop out. However, in
40:07
that scenario, if they trade up, you know, get the third overall
40:09
pick, and then signed Sam Donald and then draft whoever it is, you
40:17
know, the obvious quarterback of the future, then I can I can be
40:22
sold on that. But like, I don't know, if it's a bridge
40:25
quarterback at a reasonable rate. Maybe, maybe, but I don't know.
40:35
I haven't seen Sam Donald play a winning game. I don't think. Yeah,
40:38
well there was, I mean, he's been on the Niners this year,
40:42
and there was the like one game where Perdy was looking kind of a
40:46
little a little down, wasn't looking that great. The Niners still had a
40:51
chance to win, and then Perdy messed up his hand or something, and
40:57
Sam Donald came in because he had to, and then party looked like he
41:00
was good to go, and Shanahan was like, hold on, Donald,
41:05
we're sticking with him. We got something going here. And I don't even
41:07
remember if the Niners ended up winning that game, but there's something there for
41:12
Donald. But at that point for me, I mean I've talked about how
41:16
Nick Mullens might be one of the better QB twos in the league. If
41:22
you're gonna sign Sam Donald, you might as well just run it with Nick
41:24
Mullens, who has proven to be decent at coming out of nowhere and coming
41:30
on the field. He's also really good at throwing picks. Yeah, but
41:34
he's also gonna throw for four hundred yards and maybe a couple of touchdowns and
41:37
hopefully not too many picks or picks. Well, you never give a guy
41:43
a chance to throw four interceptions. The Vikings did it a few times this
41:49
year. Yeah. Man, that was a fun experiment though, Like,
41:53
yeah, I'm glad we did that. Yeah, and yeah, it's so
42:01
true that we would be horrible at that job. We would, Oh,
42:06
it would be so lost. I mean, that's why they let us play
42:09
Madden and they don't make us be the GM of our favorite team, because
42:15
we would make some terrible moves, probably with other people's money. Of other
42:20
people's money. I think it also just goes to show what a difficult position
42:24
the Vikings are in this season. I mean, it's something's literally going to
42:30
have to give someone will have to go, and the fan base will be
42:35
upset, and no matter what you do, sections of the fan base will
42:39
be upset and sections will be super pumped. There are people that can't stand
42:45
Kirk Cousins and they're just super pumped that he might not be on the team.
42:49
And I'm not in that crowd, but like, there are other people
42:52
that will stop watching the Vikings if they don't sign Kirk Cousins, and I'm
42:55
not in that crowd either, but like, yeah, there's just all kinds
43:00
of people that are fans and quote unquote fans, and I'm just I'm excited
43:06
to see where it all goes. It will definitely be a soap opera of
43:10
a off season. Yeah, and it's gonna start soon because I mean,
43:15
I would say a Kirk decision will be made before March madness, maybe excuse
43:25
me. He has come out and said a few times like it'll be an
43:29
interesting first couple of weeks of March. So I don't know. I think
43:35
his contract has a weird early expiration date. I don't know if he's anticipating
43:39
some kind of a frenzy of being a free agent. I think at this
43:45
point it's fairly obvious. He's going to be a free agent, like he
43:49
is going to get to the point that other teams can openly without breaking any
43:52
rules, negotiate with him, and that will include the Vikings. Hopefully it's
43:58
already included the Viking. But I just just doing that little cap experiment there
44:05
kind of proved it to me that, like, unless you're selling out for
44:09
twenty twenty four and you know you can win the Super Bowl, I don't
44:13
think it makes any sense to try to sell out for Kirk Cousins long term.
44:17
But and if they do, I'm super pumped. Let's go. Kirk
44:22
is a good quarterback on the field, He's amazing and I love cheering for
44:24
him in the you know, the salary cap that just makes it tough to
44:30
sign other players. Well, we'll have a lot to talk about, yeah,
44:38
as that news develops, and yeah, we'll see what happens. Yeah,
44:45
maybe we can talk about that on our on our brewery tour that we're
44:50
going to take this summer. We are definitely gonna take that, and we
44:55
will have lots to talk about on that too. Yeah. Oh yeah,
45:00
and a lot of good beer to try a lot of good beer to try.
45:01
A lot of miles to drive. Maybe Big Top can give us a
45:05
gas card to go on that trip a little bit, but a bad idea
45:14
we might have to stop by. Contrary, Yeah, I'd love it.
45:16
This beer has been fantastic for me. It's super easy drinker. Yeah,
45:21
like like it. It feels weird to say a crushable red Ale, but
45:24
this definitely, I mean for me, it's a crushable beer. Like it's
45:29
five percent, so nothing crazy but enough and good flavor, but again not
45:36
like an offensively crazy amount of flavor, Like it's just a good beer.
45:40
Like they hit the nail on the head. I really, I do feel
45:45
kind of bad because I feel like we just like simp for every beer that
45:51
we've ever had, Like we've never said a bad thing about a beer on
45:53
this podcast have we Like even the Cobbler. Gobbler we were both like,
45:58
is this actually good? Like that one got me off guard, like I
46:01
wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was, and that one.
46:05
I mean, the thing is, we don't we don't put on a show
46:09
when we crack open a beer and we try it in front of the camera.
46:13
We are we like to like beers and like, sure, we're pretty
46:16
open that like ambers are not my go to, and hazy citrusy IPAs are
46:22
not necessarily your go to, but but I like them. The worst we've
46:27
ever said is like, I mean, it's not the first one I'd reach
46:30
for, but it's pretty good. Like I'm surprised how much I like it.
46:34
Like, I'm not surprised I like this one this much because I mean,
46:38
it seemed to present itself very well, and it smelled good the second
46:43
we cracked it open. But I I like how much I like it.
46:45
It's a good beer. Yeah, I've rarely met a beer that I didn't
46:51
like. Yep, there've only been like a handful in my life. I
46:54
can think of two. A Holopano beer a local area brewery, and I'm
47:01
sure every brewery has a Holopano or whatever, so it's not like they're the
47:06
only ones. But a halipano beer. And then there was one that a
47:09
friend of mine got when we were out to dinner somewhere, and it was
47:16
a four to twenty themed beer. And we are not ones to partake in
47:25
that substance, but I mean, power too if you do. But I
47:30
have smelled that substance. I think anybody who's an adult has has smelled it,
47:37
even if it was in like middle school and the police officer brings it
47:39
to school to have us all smell it. I'm a high school teacher,
47:43
and you just have to walk into the bathroom, right, But that beer.
47:45
I took a sip of my friend's beer, and I don't even know
47:49
that, Like I'm not just trying to keep the name out from being out
47:52
there, like I just don't remember it. I know it had something to
47:54
do with four to twenty in the title. I took a sip of it,
47:59
and it tastes did like that stuff smells, and it was awful.
48:04
It's the worst beer I've ever had. I'd rather chug ten Jlopano beers than
48:08
take one sip of that terrible four to twenty beer. Wow. Well,
48:14
now I want to know. I'm gonna have to do some research. Google
48:16
would probably tell you really quick figure it out. But yeah, this one
48:20
is as a good one. I like it. Thank you, Contrary,
48:22
Please let us know how to say your name. I think Evan has it.
48:28
I just I want to know how to say it, so let us
48:30
know. I feel pretty confident it's Contrary, But who knows. Maybe they
48:37
have a different emphasis on the other salables. I do have the same hold
48:44
up with confluence, confluence, confluence out of des Moines. I don't know.
48:50
I think it's a confluence contrary confluence. I don't know. I could
48:54
be wrong too. Yeah, I'm we're okay with being wrong, just like
48:58
we're both wrong and they're gonna sign Kirk and win multiple super Bowls with him.
49:01
It's cool. I shouldn't say we're both you're you're in the camp of
49:05
signing Kirk. I would like to see Kirk back, but I don't know.
49:09
Like we've said, the writing is more and more on the wall.
49:13
He's very expensive. The Vikings just don't have the money to keep him around.
49:17
So I'm I'm softening to the reality that that will be the case,
49:22
and I'm I'm starting to turn my mantra of don't pay running backs almost into
49:30
the don't pay Kirk because he's not twenty five. He's thirty six with the
49:35
bum achilles that by all indications, he's looking good and should be healthy and
49:40
hopefully great. Looked good dancing at the NFL Awards. Yeah, was it
49:44
Cam Jordan. He was standing next to a guy that has openly mocked him
49:47
before, like, I don't, I guess they're I guess they're good.
49:51
Let bygones be bygones. And Kirk doesn't seem like the guy to hold a
49:54
grudge unless you're you're Mike Zimmer on the sideline and you just threw a touchdown
49:59
to win the g and you grabbed Mike Zimmer's chest. If I could have
50:02
any wish, it would be to know what that was all about. Yeah,
50:07
I'm sure only a few people know all the details. If you know,
50:10
let us know Mike Zimmer new old Cowboys coordinator. Yeah, kind of
50:19
making his full circle back to I liked him as a Vikings coach overall.
50:22
He did more good than bad. Yep, it made sense at the time
50:27
to get rid of him, But yeah, I was a good coach.
50:30
I don't disagree with you. I think he was a very different head coach
50:35
than Kevin O'Connell is. I think Kosi is definitely a player's coach. I
50:39
think players like playing for him. I think players would run through a wall
50:44
for him. Zimmer was more of the old school hard knows, like I
50:49
don't care about your feelings, do what I tell you to do nobody cares.
50:52
We're harder, and I don't know. I think there's there's value in
51:00
both. But I prefer Kevin O'Connell. Yeah, that's my opinion. I
51:05
prefer whoever can get the Vikings to a darn super Bowl win, not even
51:08
just there. Well, we got to get there first, and oh man,
51:15
I've only been close a handful of times, and the handful of times
51:19
that we've been close, it's been heartbreaking. Yeah, in our lifetime,
51:22
then very sad. I almost don't ever want them to make it because I
51:25
feel for young Niners fans who haven't had the chance to see their team win
51:30
it. Like, how deflating must it be to watch your team lose the
51:36
Super Bowl, especially when they don't understand the rules and overtime. Yeah,
51:39
and that's the players. All right, Well, good beer, it's been.
51:47
It's been a good beer. It's been a good episode. Great episode,
51:51
I would say, Yeah, we got another good one in the docket
51:53
for next week. Yeah, top players of them all the time. Yeah,
52:00
Yeah, that was a fun one. So all right, Well until
52:05
next time. School school. Hey, Vikings fans, evan here from the
52:27
school hop and we just wanted to say thank you again so much for listening
52:30
to the School Hop, and we also wanted to take one more opportunity to
52:34
let you know that this episode of the School Hop has been brought to you
52:37
by Big Top Ventures. If you're considering taking an all inclusive trip to either
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Mexico or Jamaica, reach out to our friends at Bigtop Ventures at Big Top
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Ventures LLC at gmail dot com. Once again, that's Big Top Ventures LLC
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inclusive resorts throughout the region. Big Top Ventures step right up to your next
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big adventure and thanks again for listening to the School. Hi School